[Music] foreign
ER songwriter and record producer Donald Jones dominated the 90s and early 2000s music scene
with his own unique blend of the genre combining old school soul with a new school Vibe it would
later be revealed that the passion in his art that would give him so much success was
drawn from his own life experiences the success wouldn't take all his problems away though in
fact it created even more Donnell along with an older brother was born and raised on the
south side of Chicago his retail worker mother and steel mill worker father along with their
extended family used music to keep everyone United Donnell's father also sang in a gospel group with
his five brothers and later became a pastor he noticed right away how intently Darnell listened
to the group when they would sing and how much he enjoyed messing around with the instruments
at the tender age of eight Donnell began singing by 12 he was writing his first composition after
Donnell's parents divorced his mother purchased a keyboard for him to support his love of music
as the years Roll by Don found yet another love in the form of a girl named kashina
the teens met randomly one day while walking down the street and Sparks flew immediately
as much as Darnell wanted to make music for a living the appeal of easy money living the street
life was too much to resist that is until things finally caught up with him when he got arrested
the sad part is it wasn't for dealing like he was doing he was accused of an armed robbery a
crime he didn't commit thankfully his time Behind Bars was brief after it was discovered that the
real culprit was someone who looked very much like him the experience was more than enough motivation
for Donnell to get off the streets and focus more seriously on music at 16 while working a minimum
wage job at McDonald's Donnell's manager heard him singing while flipping the burgers and asked him
to try out for a singing group he was trying to put together Donnell got in and found himself as
one quarter of Porsche to gain more exposure the group traveled to Washington DC to participate in
a music conference where various artists were set to perform after waiting all day the group finally
got their moment as the last Act of the evening but by then only a few handfuls of people were
still there to listen disappoint the guys decided to go outside of the hotel and do their thing for
whoever happened to be walking by right at that moment they noticed DJ's songwriter producer and
music executive Edward Farrell better known as Eddie F on his way in they stopped him and asked
if they could sing for him he said yes and before they could finish Eddie knew he had to sign the
group to his company Untouchables Entertainment Group Porsche was on their way and not a moment
too soon for Donnell since he and kashina had become teen parents and had another mouth to
feed the group packed up and moved from Chicago to New Jersey to start their new Journey working in
Eddie's home studio things unfortunately came to an abrupt end after a fight broke out that ended
up with a big hole in one of Eddie's walls he'd had enough and decided to send everyone home he'd
end up reaching out again though a few months later but this time only to Donnell during the
group's first trip to Jersey Eddie noticed that while the other guys were out partying
Donnell lived in the studio soaking up all the knowledge he could so while Eddie was working on
projects for other artists he decided that Donnell would be a great addition to the team as a writer
before he knew it Donnell was stacking credits as a songwriter for the likes of Usher Jade silk and
702 while Donnell was doing his thing miles away kashina was still back in Chicago at this moment
the status of their relationship is a little fuzzy since Donnell told Vlad TV in 2022 that she was
seeing other people while he was away he insists that he was not and solely focused on making
music clearly they still continue to connect since she wound up pregnant with baby number two after
giving birth she and the children packed up and moved to be with Donnell in Jersey things took a
positive turn for Donnell after Eddie brought some songs Donnell had written with his group
to the attention of record executive LA Reid La loved them and couldn't wait to meet Donnell that
meeting resulted in Donnell's first record deal with lafays in June 1996 he released his debut
album my heart it became a moderate Commercial Success driven by two singles in the hood and a
cover of Stevie Wonder's 1976 ballad knocks me off my feed right from the start he also established
his signature style complete with Shades and hats to others it may have just come across as a cool
look but Donnell admits that he started rocking hats so much because of his receding hairline
Donnell's second effort where I want to be dropped in October 1999 and took his
career to an even higher level it was boosted by the global hit single you
know what's up and it's Remix featuring Lisa Left Eye Lopez which peaked at number seven
on the Billboard Hot 100 and captured the top spot on the r b chart [Music]
the album produced two other singles including shorty got her eyes on me and where I want to be
the latter of which became a number two r b hit what many didn't know was that Where I Wanna Be
was much more than just a hit song on a platinum album The heartfelt lyrics about the struggle to
remain faithful to his woman were taken directly from Donnell's real life his relationship with
kashina was on the verge of collapse largely due in part to his cheating he revealed in his unsung
episode that kashina was willing to stay with him and work things out as long as he promised
to leave his I check alone Donnell admitted that since he was so in love with this other
woman he wasn't going to leave her the best solution kashina could come up with at that
point was to end things while she told Donnell she was going to the store what she actually
ended up doing was packing up herself and the kids which now totaled four and flying back
to Chicago even though Donnell did enter into a full-fledged relationship with this other woman
in the end it didn't work out released in June 2002 Donnell's third album Life Goes On became
His Highest charting effort on the pop and R B chart its three singles were less successful
but the lead track you know that I love you did become a top 20 hit on the r b chart at
this time the road along Donnell's Journey got a little bumpy he felt that laface didn't push the
album because they didn't get the songs they wanted then laface and parent company Arista
merged with jive a move Donnell was not thrilled with he felt Jive wasn't the right place for him
since they already had several other male Army be artists and he figured he would just get lost in
the bunch it turns out he was right the process of putting together his next project was not a
pleasant one as he relayed in his unsung episode his new label picked out the producers they wanted
him to work with without his input Donnell then chose to use alcohol to deal with his frustrations
the downward spiral led to an arrest for driving Under the Influence while transporting kashina
and his children to a birthday party following a stint in rehab Donnell headed back to the studio
and after a four-year Gap came out with 2006's journey of a Gemini it did debut at number one
on the r b chart but it didn't produce any hit singles mainly as a result of a lack of promotion
Donnell explained in his unsung episode that it was a classic case of Tit for Tat he was acting
out and openly expressing his disdain for the label so in turn they didn't bother trying to
make the project a success two years later Jive kicked Donnell to the curb and he went back to the
bottle this time he spiraled worse than before he soon hit rock bottom and heeding the police
from his family returned to rehab this time to not only kick his drinking problem but also a smoking
addiction another wake-up call for Donnell was the realization that he had the chance to turn
things around if he got his act together unlike his brother who up until that point had been in
prison for the last couple of decades for taking someone's life Donnell took matters into his own
hands by releasing his next several projects on his own label Candyman music they include
the Lost files unheard songs from the past which is a compilation album of songs he recorded over
the years that never made it on an album as well as Studio albums 2010s lyrics and 2013's
forever during this time Donnell finally decided where he wanted to be and that was with his wife
Jasmine whom he married in 2013. they met in a club one night several years prior and have been
Inseparable ever since she's even featured in the music video for his song Love like this off
his lyrics album they also share two children in an interview with VH1 Donnell was very matter of
fact when asked to describe himself I'm relayed back in some ways I'm an introvert I don't like
to be around a lot of crowds of people and stuff like that I'm really private a lot of people say
I'm shy and I don't think so but I just enjoy the things that I enjoy in life I'm not really into a
lot of material things and stuff like that I got two cars my wife drives one and I drive the other
I'm a basic Guy music is just my job and I love it but that's what I look at it as I don't look
at myself as some r b star or anything like that I just really appreciate the fact that I'm able
to do what I love to do and take care of my family doing it Donnell didn't appear to be too laid back
though when he penned a bizarre Instagram post in 2020 that has since been deleted where he claimed
that his musical ideas were stolen by other acts and that r b wasn't the same without him what
bro what are you talking about man his last project to date titled 100 free came out in
February 2021. Donnell got the idea for it while he and the rest of the world was locked down he
wanted to make an album talking about all the things people needed to free themselves from he
also made the project free to purchase through his website today Donnell maintains that since he's in
control of his alcohol consumption he's able to have a social drink here and there without fear
of relapsing after forming his super group with Carl Thomas and Dave Hollister called the shy in
2021 they've been trying to carve out time to work on a project together but in the meantime
Donnell's already been in the studio working on his next solo project he hopes to release soon
thank you